Honestly, this is one of the best run cons Iâve been to. Besides the inclusivity, the line management, and how the panels are managed is one of the best Iâve seen. The volunteers/workers are super nice and informative, too. Itâs also the only con Iâve been to where I can be totally out and transgender without fear of any backlash. Trans visibility is really high there. Itâs my favorite by far.
Sounds cool.
Sounds like a really great place, and I hope it has a really positive effect on everyone who goes there. The world needs places like this, where folks can go to be energized by a diversity of peers, highlighting specifically the diversity and what that brings to the table.
Thanks for the first hand information! Everything Iâm hearing makes me wish we could afford to go. Unfortunately our budget right now is keeping us away from even local conventions, let alone one thatâs halfway across the country from us. Still, Iâm glad to know a con like this is out there and hope that others will follow their lead.
Anywhere there are geek girls there is love and acceptance.
Anyone can be a geek girl, but only a real geek can be a geek girl.
I sometimes wonder why the coolest people I know fit the GG title, I think I survived college and beyond because of them.
I wonder though from a feminist perspective if geek-girl is the preferred description for over 18 women?
I also would ask the feminists if it is OK to notice that these women in the clip appear far more attractive than what popular culture would have us see as beauty. My personal experience growing up was that something in the smile of a âgeek girlâ indicated real interest and affection/friendship while with the âcool girlsâ it was a disgusting sometimes even hostile plastic mask worn to woo the âcool boysâ or to get something they wanted from a nerdy untermensch, it probably helped that they were not too cool to actually like nerdly stuff and talk to us. I would like to think it is because we see both the men and women in the vid as the sensitive people that another sensitive person would want to spend time with.
It takes surviving the crucible of being unaccepted for your preferences rather than sticking big glasses onto a model to make a geek girl.
Its a little sad that an event thats held up for its inclusiveness is clearly only targetted at a single gender.
âŚwhile other such events address inclusiveness from panels also filled with a single gender?
Also very sad
This was my second year doing this con (I missed it last year) and itâs just wonderful. A friend and I cosplayed as characters from a feminist comic and the amount of warmth and excitement we received was very heartening. The first time I went, I was âgeek checkedâ at the door (a guy who wanted to quiz me on the meaning of Wonder Womanâs bracelets, as if I needed to justify my tribute to them) but this time there was none of that. Itâs so lovely to feel catered to.
A coworker mentioned to me that she was reluctant to go, because it felt âseparate but equalââ the emphasis on âgeek girlâ i presume. But why canât a predominantly female-geared space still be inclusive of men and other genders? Predominantly male-geared spaces are (if only by law). Hereâs the real issue, though: no one is going to make the space for us, so we gotta support the spaces we make for ourselves. If a guy isnât comfortable going to âGeek Girl Conâ then maybe he needs to consider why he has an aversion to the concept. It really is for everyone, but itâs especially for people who donât get to feel safe in other places.
Yeah, yeah, we get it.
Iâve encountered that same pushback from straight cis guys about the con, and I feel the same way you do. If their masculinity is so fragile that going to the con is a problem for them, they have bigger problems. My husband loves the con more than any others because of the diversity. They often have panels for writers, which focus on things like catering to the female gaze, or how to write diversity into your projects. Last year there was a great panel on disability in the media that was great.
There were so many guys there! And i didnât feel like meat! It was pretty awesome.
Do you by any chance live⌠under a bridge?
Itâs a little sad that itâs still necessary that there is a need for âinclusiveâ events that are targeted at specific groups.
Maybe once that little bit of equal footing is achieved, then events can be truly colorless, genderless, etcâŚ
Wow, my very next comment was agreeing that an all male inclusiveness panel was also a bad thing. And your response is to name call. A little thin skinned arenât we. At least make a point? An argument? Anything?
I can see the logic in that. But it does not exactly match my idea of âan oasis of acceptanceâ.
No I do not. Thank you for your insightful comment.
It wasnât particularly insightful. Other people just seemed not to understand that youâre trolling.
If you want to ramp things up you could complain about the existence of Womenâs Studies at universities (obviously a plot by man-haters), the NAACP (bigoted black people), the AARP (greedy old fogeys), and Italian restaurants (why no Chinese food).
Whatâs really sad is using false indignance to trot out tired, threadbare complaints about the world conspiring against you.
And you very next comment after this one is complaining about how Geek Girl Con doesnât match your idea of âan oasis of acceptanceâ.
You poor dear! With nowhere to be accepted in your male celebration of geekdom!
